Friday, May 8, 2015

Regular visitors will know that I'm a big fan of outdoor art and I always love to showcase work that captures the imagination, like these two sculptures spotted on my recent trip back to the U.K.

Merchant Seafarers' War Memorial in Cardiff Bay

First up is this fantastic shipwrecked face sculpture by Brian Fell in Cardiff Bay, which I've seen on previous visits, but it always makes me stop for a closer look.

This Merchant Seafarer's War Memorial, which has this compelling face on the hull of a ship complete with rivets, really is a work of art and commemorates all the merchant seamen from the ports of Barry, Penarth and Cardiff that lost their lives in times of war.

The other sculpture that caught my eye was this massive Broadgate Venus by Fernando Botero, which I chanced upon the day after running the London Marathon wandering around the streets of London.

Broadgate Venus (1989) by Fernando Botero

Overlooking Liverpool Street Station, this curvy bronze weighs in at five tonnes and really stands out at the heart of Broadgate.

I love that there's whimsy like this sculpture to be found in London, and since my last visit a year and a half ago it's amazing how much of the city has changed, from the skyline along the Thames to old offices I used to work in, now either luxury apartments or transformed into designer hotels and restaurants.